When the country focuses on Indianapolis, more often than not it has to do with the Colts, the Speedway, or the up-coming Super Bowl. People from Indianapolis take their sports very seriously.

However, a violent act of nature recently put Indy on front pages across the country after a much more somber moment in our city. On August 13th, at a concert at the State Fair, an in-coming storm’s unforgiving gust of wind collapsed the stage, killing 7 people and injuring 40 more. Officials and citizens rushed, in acts of unspeakable courage, to help fellow concert-goers trapped under the debris. A visibly emotional Governor Mitch Daniels said at a press conference the following morning,

“What needs saying most about last night’s freakish accident was that we saw on display the best qualities of both public and private Hoosiers. Emergency management personnel response was instantaneous and highly professional. It’s equally important to say … that individual Hoosiers ran to the trouble, not from the trouble by the hundreds. That’s the character that we associate with our state.”

Some things are unavoidable, unforeseeable, and unfathomable. Other things can be prevented with a little foresight and common sense. When traveling, the last thing you want to think about is something going wrong, but it is advisable to have emergency contact information close at hand…just in case.

When visiting Indianapolis, some of these numbers might end up being the difference between being safe and sorry. In addition, Indiana experiences an average of 20 tornadoes per year and 4 tornado-related deaths. In Marion County, where Indianapolis is located, 168 outdoor warning sirens warn citizens and visitors of potential or current threats to public safety. If you hear the 3-minute warning signal, seek shelter indoors and turn on a radio or television to receive further instructions from public officials.